Defending champion Popyrin falls in NBO quarterfinals
The top seed at the Canadian men's tennis championship rallied to defeat No. 18 Alexei Popyrin of Australia 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-3 on Monday evening at Sobeys Stadium.
Currently third in the ATP Tour's rankings, the German will take on either No. 11 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia or No. 26 Alex Michelsen of the United States on Wednesday.
Khachanov and Michelsen played the late quarterfinal on the campus of York University in hazy northwest Toronto.
Tuesday's schedule at the NBO features a pair of American favourites.
Second-seed Taylor Fritz will take on No. 6 Andrey Rublev of Russia in the quarters, while No. 4 Ben Shelton is slated to meet No. 9 Alex de Minaur of Australia. Both semifinals go Wednesday ahead of Thursday's title match.
Popyrin took a knife-edged first set in a tiebreak when his gentle backhand shot after a long rally grazed the top of the net and dropped for the winning point — much to the delight of his fans, including one with an inflatable yellow kangaroo.
Zverev, meanwhile, responded by immediately firing a ball completely out of Sobeys Stadium in frustration.
Looking for his 25th tournament victory and eighth ATP 1000 Masters triumph, he responded by going up 2-0 in the second set.
Popyrin grabbed a break of his own before holding serve at 4-4. Zverev, who won the Canadian title in Montreal eight years ago when he defeated childhood idol Roger Federer, took a 5-4 lead and then again broke his opponent to even the match.
Ousted at the quarterfinal stage of last year's tournament, Zverev got another break to go up 2-0 in the third set before serving out the match.
The 28-year-old, who lost to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the final at this year's Australian Open and made the French Open quarters, improved to 4-0 all-time against Popyrin, including a third-round victory at the Paris Olympics.
Zverev has two tournament wins on clay this year, and is the highest-ranked player competing in a Toronto field lacking some significant star power after Sinner, No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, No. 5 Jack Draper and No. 6 Novak Djokovic all skipped the US$9.19-million hardcourt event.
The 25-year-old Popyrin — ranked No. 26 in the world — beat Rublev some 12 months ago in Montreal to claim his third tournament win, but saw a nine-match winning run in Canada come to an end Monday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Globe and Mail
11 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Blue Jays hammer Rockies 20-1 to close out three-game sweep
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had four hits, including a home run, and Davis Schneider went deep twice as the Toronto Blue Jays capped their Coors Field onslaught Wednesday with a 20-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies. The first-place Blue Jays finished with five homers and 24 hits to set a major league record with 63 hits in a three-game series. They established a franchise mark with 45 runs in the three-game set. Bo Bichette and Ernie Clement also homered for the AL East leaders, who outscored the Rockies 45-6 in the series and are 26-11 since June 25. Toronto hit 13 home runs in the series. Ty France had four doubles and Clement added four hits. Bichette and Schneider had four RBIs apiece. Guerrero extended his on-base streak to 23 games, the longest current streak in the American League. Toronto scored its final eight runs in the ninth inning off Colorado catcher Austin Nola, who gave up eight hits — including homers by Schneider and Clement. Kevin Gausman (8-8) allowed one run and three hits in seven innings. He struck out six and walked two. Bichette hit a three-run homer off Kyle Freeland (2-12) in the third for a 3-1 lead. Nathan Lukes had a two-run triple in the fifth and Schneider homered off Angel Chivilli to begin a five-run sixth. Guerrero connected in the eighth. Bichette and Daulton Varsho, who did not play Wednesday, both had three homers in the series. Guerrero went 8 for 17 with two homers and four RBIs. Bichette was 7 for 17 with 10 RBIs, and Lukes was 6 for 13 with six RBIs. Bichette's homer to centre field with two outs in the third opened the floodgates. Toronto scored at least 10 runs in each game of the series. Blue Jays: RHP Max Scherzer (2-1, 4.39 ERA) faces Dodgers LHP Clayton Kershaw (5-2, 3.29) in a meeting of likely Hall of Famers on Friday in Los Angeles. Rockies: LHP Austin Gomber (0-5, 6.18 ERA) opposes Arizona RHP Zac Gallen (8-12, 5.48) on Friday in Phoenix.
CTV News
18 minutes ago
- CTV News
Queen City Ex attendance down 25% from 2024, as REAL changes reporting practices
This year's Queen City Ex (QCX) wrapped up on Aug. 3, after five-days of rides, live entertainment and food. (Sierra D'Souza Butts/CTV News) The Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) has changed the way it records attendance — leading to reduced totals for this year's Queen City Ex (QCX). According to REAL, the 2025 Queen City Exhibition welcomed just under 74,000 fairgoers this year – marking a decrease from last year's scanned attendance of 102,000. 'Scanned attendance offers a reliable and verifiable measure of how many people actually attended the event — unlike broader promotional estimates,' REAL CEO Rick Bennet said in the announcement. In reference to the 'broader promotional estimates' — last year, REAL claimed that 262,720 people attended the Queen City Ex, which represents a margin of 160,720 attendees. As for the decrease of the more than 25,000 scanned attendees from 2024 to 2025 — the organization said several factors fed into that result, such as the Saskatchewan Roughriders playing an away game, the timing of the Saskatchewan Day holiday, the pause of community activations such as the Kidway Morning, Newcomers Day, the 5K Midway Run, as well as a delayed start to ticket sales. QCX event manager Cat Betker says advancements in technology are allowing the organization to be far more accurate in calculating attendance. 'It was a really common industry practice to kind of use this, almost like a multiplier … the technological systems have advanced so much that now we do have a really clear insight to how many people we have on property at any one time,' she explained. 'Whereas previously, if you didn't have [a] fancy, high tech, ticket scanning system or a way to control and manage people, you had to use these kinds of multipliers because that was your best estimate.' REAL has made headlines in recent years and not always for the right reasons. From the controversial Experience Regina tourism campaign to the removal of Tim Reid as president and CEO, to the organization's financial struggles — issues at REAL have been prevalent. Betker says her colleagues are excited for the future and eager to put past troubles behind them. 'We've been through a couple of very tumultuous couple of years, and I think we're all ready for things to settle down a little bit and kind of just get back to business and do the things that we do so well,' she said. 'There's been a lot of a lot of noise and a lot of media and realistically, you know, we're just trying to be that anchor in the community that is continually focused on delivering things that support the people that need it.' The 2026 Queen City Ex is slated to run from July 29 to Aug. 2.
Winnipeg Free Press
41 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Guerrero and Blue Jays rout Rockies 20-1 to cap Coors Field barrage
DENVER (AP) — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had four hits, including a home run, and Davis Schneider went deep twice as the Toronto Blue Jays capped their Coors Field onslaught Wednesday with a 20-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies. The first-place Blue Jays finished with five homers and 24 hits to set a major league record with 63 hits in a three-game series. They established a franchise mark with 45 runs in the three-game set. Bo Bichette and Ernie Clement also homered for the AL East leaders, who outscored the Rockies 45-6 in the series and are 26-11 since June 25. Toronto hit 13 home runs in the series. Ty France had four doubles and Clement added four hits. Bichette and Schneider had four RBIs apiece. Guerrero extended his on-base streak to 23 games, the longest current streak in the American League. Toronto scored its final eight runs in the ninth inning off Colorado catcher Austin Nola, who gave up eight hits — including homers by Schneider and Clement. Kevin Gausman (8-8) allowed one run and three hits in seven innings. He struck out six and walked two. Bichette hit a three-run homer off Kyle Freeland (2-12) in the third for a 3-1 lead. Nathan Lukes had a two-run triple in the fifth and Schneider homered off Angel Chivilli to begin a five-run sixth. Guerrero connected in the eighth. Bichette and Daulton Varsho, who did not play Wednesday, both had three homers in the series. Guerrero went 8 for 17 with two homers and four RBIs. Bichette was 7 for 17 with 10 RBIs, and Lukes was 6 for 13 with six RBIs. Key moment Bichette's homer to center field with two outs in the third opened the floodgates. Key stat Toronto scored at least 10 runs in each game of the series. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. Up next Blue Jays: RHP Max Scherzer (2-1, 4.39 ERA) faces Dodgers LHP Clayton Kershaw (5-2, 3.29) in a meeting of likely Hall of Famers on Friday in Los Angeles. Rockies: LHP Austin Gomber (0-5, 6.18 ERA) opposes Arizona RHP Zac Gallen (8-12, 5.48) on Friday in Phoenix. ___ AP MLB:
